VacationSelector
The Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens, Adelaide
AdelaideThe Adelaide skyline and the footbridge over the River Torrens
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Adelaide by Ardash Muradian, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Adelaide or Chicago?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Adelaide for

  • beaches
  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Adelaide’s own page.

Choose Chicago for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Adelaide 68, Chicago 50: Adelaide leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Adelaide 72, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 8 points.
Culture & sights. Adelaide 48, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Adelaide 42, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 35 points.
Nature & outdoors. Adelaide 66, Chicago 48: Adelaide leads by 18 points.
Day trips. Adelaide 60, Chicago 42: Adelaide leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Adelaide 70, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 8 points.
Getting around. Adelaide 57, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 15 points.
Shopping & style. Adelaide 44, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 26 points.
Affordability. Adelaide 40, Chicago 33: Adelaide leads by 7 points.
Live music & performing arts. Adelaide 63, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 19 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Adelaide 42, Chicago 33: Adelaide leads by 9 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Adelaide and Chicago.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Adelaide
56match

Wins on beaches and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Adelaide in July

16 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
72 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
14 °Csea
10 hdaylight a day

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
AdelaideChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Adelaide: 1991-2020 normals, Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) (3.1 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAdelaideChicago
Official languageEnglish-
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+9:30, UTC+10:30 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency number000911
Elevation1 m179 m
Main airportAdelaide International Airport (ADL)6 km from centre35 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureAdelaideChicago
City population1,387,2902,746,388
People per km²1,0714,529
Museums within 10 km1344
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Adelaide or Chicago somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.